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Georgia region to hold referendum on joining Russia

The breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia is, in the next year, to hold a referendum on joining Russia, its president Leonid Tibilov, told Russian media Friday. He said he's worried by "Nato’s move towards Russia’s borders, and also by militarist anti-Russian and anti-Ossetian rhetoric of our southern neighbours [Georgia]."

Central European countries say they have "nothing to hide" on rule of law issues - while justice commissioner Vera Jourova said they should agree to the Commission's controversial budget plans on rule of law conditionality.

Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor, says the EU-US data sharing pact known as Privacy Shield will play an increasingly minor role given the general data protection regulation.